Snakes and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails...

...these are what little boys are made of!

Little did I know at the beginning of my pregnancy four years ago, that my days would consist of icky, creepy, crawlies. Or that I would somehow enjoy it! Well, some of it...

So far this summer, we have allowed many creatures to creep into our home and into our sons arms.

Each night, as the sun goes down, we go hunts for toads with our flashlights throughout our neighborhood. Carson likes to make "friends" out of the toads, which consists of us finding our first toad and carrying him/her around the neighborhood (Carson does the carrying) until we can find another toad to match him/her up with. And then we set them free! Sometimes we find other "friends" as well. As you can see from the picture below, Carson & Dada stumbled upon this treasure, which they decided to bring to the house to show me (oh, joy!):

As if we don't discover enough icky creatures on our own, our families help to bring more into our lives! Carson's cousin, Jakob, just celebrated his birthday by having a snake-themed party. I luckily didn't attend, but have now been informed by Carson that when HE turns 5, HE wants a snake party too...(hooray...) Here is my innocent 3 year old holding these slithering, leg-less creatures:

While we were shopping for birthday presents at our favorite toy store, Learning Express, we came across these totally cute little frogs! They come in pairs, with a little snail included, for like $25. What sold us was the fact that the upkeep is so easy. You feed them twice a week, and change the water 4 times a year! That's it! The bamboo supplies the oxygen, the snails cleans, and the frogs swim around!

Carson named the frogs appropriately; Good Boy & Smiley Face. The snails name is Gary, just like on Sponge Bob.